﻿When someone asks me, "What do you do?", why is my first inclination always to answer with what sounds most impressive, like "Business Owner" or "freelance writer"? Isn't being a mother also a job? Why are Stay-at-Home-Moms (SAHMs) often ashamed to answer that loaded question of self-important workplace validity with the truth? Even Work-Outside-the-Home-Moms (WOHMs) are always still mothers... it's not like they "clock out" of being a mother when they "clock in" at work, yet if someone were to ask them what they do, they wouldn't respond, "I'm a mom"first.

But aren't we always mothers first and foremost?

The thing I can't understand is that we all have a mothers, or we wouldn't exist. For those of us fortunate to have been reared by our mothers, there aren't enough cheese-ball gold watches or certificates of achievement to show our gratitude, love, and appreciation... so having acknowledged the facts, isn't it obvious that the most important job someone could ever have, to be a mother: overseer of someone else's life from birth through to adulthood?

In my quick estimation, being a mother encompasses ALL of these job titles:

If mothering embraces all of the jobs listed above with the caveat of being on-call 24/7 for at least 18 years, how can that feat not earn the right to have an acceptable job title? Additionally, most of those titles in the list come with real management-of-people experience (husband, kids, babysitter/nanny). In the entirety of their careers, many people will never rise to the level of a job that requires managing a team... as a "job", motherhood would earn an office with floor-to-ceiling windows, a saltwater aquarium, a REAL ficus, and with the addition of every child, that would (in theory) equate to getting a promotion... another person added to your team (except motherhood as a job is backwards in essentially having less money with each added responsibility).

I've had several jobs over my 34 years (cashier, retail salesperson, intern, interior designer, marketing assistant, writer, graphic designer, business owner, freelance writer, author), but none of these jobs has been as challenging, rewarding, or thankless as being a mother.

For most mothers, the "job" of being a mother is the one you'll have the longest. Shouldn't you get some recognition for that achievement, and shouldn't you be proud of your accomplishment? Stay-at-Home-Mom or Work-Outside-the-Home-Mom, being a mother IS worthy of a job title so the next time someone asks you what you do, say with pride, "First and foremost, I'm a mom!"